Integrated circuit defect review and classification process

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to circuit defect detection, classification, and review in the wafer stage of the integrated circuit semiconductor device manufacturing process. The method of processing integrated circuit semiconductor dice on a wafer in a manufacturing process for dice comprises the steps of visually inspecting the dice on the wafer to determine defects thereon, summarizing the number, types, and ranges of sizes of the defects of the dice on the wafer, and determining if the wafer is acceptable to proceed in the manufacturing process.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of application Ser. No.09/839,777, filed Apr. 20, 2001, pending, which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 09/537,030, filed Mar. 28, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No.6,259,520 B1, issued Jul. 10, 2001, which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 08/790,999, filed Jan. 30, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No.6,072,574, issued Jun. 6, 2000.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates in general to integrated circuitsemiconductor device manufacturing. More specifically, the presentinvention relates to integrated circuit defect detection,classification, and review in the wafer stage of the integrated circuitsemiconductor device manufacturing process.

[0004] 2. State of the Art

[0005] Integrated circuit semiconductor devices (IC's) are smallelectronic circuits formed on the surface of a wafer of semiconductormaterial, such as silicon, in a manufacturing process referred to as“fabrication”. Once fabricated while in wafer form, IC's areelectronically probed to evaluate a variety of their electroniccharacteristics, subsequently cut from the wafer on which they wereformed into discrete IC dice or “chips”, and then further tested andassembled for customer use through various well-known individual die ICtesting and packaging techniques, including lead frame packaging,Chip-On-Board (COB) packaging, and flip-chip packaging.

[0006] Before being shipped to customers, packaged IC's are generallytested to ensure various functions thereof. Testing typically involves avariety of known test steps, such as pregrade, burn-in, and final, whichtest IC's for defects and functionality and grade IC's for speed. Asshown in FIG. 1, IC's that pass the described testing are generallyshipped to customers, while IC's that fail the testing are typicallyrejected.

[0007] The testing standards for a particular IC product are sometimesrelaxed as the product “matures” such that IC's previously rejectedunder strict testing standards may pass the relaxed testing standards.Consequently, reject bins containing previously rejected IC's aresometimes “culled” for IC's that are shippable under relaxed testingstandards by testing the rejected IC's again using the relaxed testingstandards. Unfortunately, while this “culling” process does retrieveshippable IC's from reject bins, it makes inefficient use of expensiveand often limited testing resources by diverting those resources awayfrom testing untested IC's in order to retest previously rejected IC's.

[0008] Similarly, as shown in FIG. 2, all the IC's from the wafers in awafer lot typically undergo enhanced reliability testing that is moreextensive and strict than normal testing when any of the wafers in thelot are deemed to be unreliable because of fabrication or other processerrors. Since a wafer lot typically consists of fifty or more wafers,many of the IC's that undergo the enhanced reliability testing do notrequire it because they come from wafers that are not deemed unreliable.Performing enhanced reliability testing on IC's that do not need it isinefficient because such testing is typically more time-consuming anduses more resources than normal testing.

[0009] Likewise, as shown in FIG. 3, a new or special “recipe” forfabricating IC's on wafers is sometimes tested by fabricating somewafers from a wafer lot using the special recipe and other wafers fromthe wafer lot using a control recipe. IC's from the wafers thentypically undergo separate assembly and test procedures so that the testresults of IC's fabricated using the special recipe are not mixed withthe test results of IC's fabricated using the control recipe, and viceversa. Test reports from the separate test procedures are then used toevaluate the special recipe and to determine whether the IC's are to beshipped to customers, reworked, repaired, retested, or rejected.Unfortunately, because the IC's undergo separate test and assemblyprocedures, undesirable variables, such as differences in assembly andtest equipment, are introduced into the testing of the special recipe.It would be desirable, instead, to be able to assemble and test the IC'susing the same assembly and test procedures, and to then sort the IC'sand their test results into those IC's fabricated using the specialrecipe and those IC's fabricated using the control recipe.

[0010] As described above, IC's are typically tested for variouscharacteristics before being shipped to customers. For example, as shownin FIG. 4, IC's may be graded in test for speed and placed in variousbins according to their speed. If a customer subsequently requests amore stringent speed grade, IC's in one of the bins are retested andthereby sorted into IC's that meet the more stringent speed grade andthose that do not. While this conventional process sorts the IC's intoseparate speed grades, it makes inefficient use of expensive and oftenlimited testing resources by diverting those resources away from testinguntested IC's in order to retest previously tested IC's.

[0011] As described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,301,143, 5,294,812, and5,103,166, some methods have been devised to electronically identifyindividual IC's. Such methods take place “off” the manufacturing lineand involve the use of electrically retrievable ID codes, such asso-called “fuse-ID's”, programmed into individual IC's to identify theIC's. The programming of a fuse ID typically involves selectivelyblowing an arrangement of fuses and anti-fuses in an IC so that when thefuses or anti-fuses are accessed, they output a selected ID code.Unfortunately, none of these methods addresses the problem ofidentifying IC's on a manufacturing line which will probably fail duringsubsequent testing and processing to help minimize the use of processingresources and time.

[0012] As can be readily seen, since IC's which are ultimately sold tocustomers involve extensive testing and subsequent packaging of the ICdevice, it becomes important to identify potentially defective IC's asearly as possible in the manufacturing process to help eliminateassociated testing, processing, and packaging costs therewith. Inparticular, if defects in IC's can be identified early in themanufacturing process before any testing occurs while the IC's are stillin wafer form, it is very beneficial in the manufacturing process,particularly, if the defects in the IC's can be identified while theIC's are still in wafer form before any substantial testing has beendone of the IC's on the wafer. It is also beneficial to identify andclassify the defects of the IC's while in wafer form to determine if thewafer should proceed in the various processes of test, manufacture, andpackaging with other wafers in the same manufacturing production lotwhen the inclusion of a wafer having IC's with numerous defects thereinmay cause the unnecessary testing of other IC's from other wafers in themanufacturing production lot.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0013] The present invention relates to circuit defect detection,classification, and review in the wafer stage of the integrated circuitsemiconductor device manufacturing process. The method of processingintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on a wafer in a manufacturingprocess for dice comprises the steps of visually inspecting the dice onthe wafer to determine defects thereon, summarizing the number, types,and ranges of sizes of the defects of the dice on the wafer, anddetermining if the wafer is acceptable to proceed in the manufacturingprocess.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014]FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating a conventional procedure inan integrated circuit manufacturing process for culling shippable IC'sfrom a reject bin;

[0015]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a conventional procedure inan IC manufacturing process for directing IC's to enhanced reliabilitytesting;

[0016]FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a conventional procedure inan IC manufacturing process for testing a new or special fabricationprocess recipe;

[0017]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a conventional procedure inan IC manufacturing process for speed-sorting IC's;

[0018]FIGS. 5A and 5B are a flow diagram illustrating the process of thepresent invention in an IC manufacturing process;

[0019]FIG. 6 is a tabular summary of defect type, defect description,and total number of defects of preselected dice of a wafer according tothe present invention; and

[0020]FIG. 7 is a graphical display of the dice of a wafer which hasbeen inspected according to the present invention.

[0021] The present invention will be more fully understood when thedrawings are taken in conjunction with the detailed description of theinvention hereinafter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0022] Referring to drawing FIGS. 5A and 5B, the flow diagram 10illustrating the process of the present invention in an integratedcircuit semiconductor device manufacturing process is set forth.

[0023] Referring to the step set forth in box 12 of the presentinvention, the types of surface defects in individual IC's located onthe wafer to be discovered from a visual inspection of individual diceon the wafer are determined. Typically, the surface defects are to bevisually determined using any commercially available automated defectdetector for such purpose well known in the industry. Typical types ofsurface defects to be determined from a visual inspection of the dice ofthe wafer may include particle contamination of the dice fromprocessing, bond pad formation problems, incomplete formation (scumming)of the circuits of the dice, etc., the types of visual defects beingrepresentative of those observed in normal IC processing in the waferstage.

[0024] Referring to the next step of the method of the present inventionset forth in box 14 of the drawings, the size ranges of the surfacedefects from the inspection of the dice of the wafer to be visuallyinspected are determined. For instance, surface defects present on thedice of the wafer are selected to be determined in size ranges fortabulation purposes, such as surface defects in the ranges of 0.0-0.5microns, 0.5-1.0 microns, 1.0-1.5 microns, 1.5-2.0 microns, 2.0-4.0microns, greater than 4.0 microns, etc.

[0025] Referring to step 16 of the present invention, the location ofthe dice to be inspected for surface defects thereon is determined withrespect to the dice located on the wafer. That is, the surface defectsare to be determined based upon either a predetermined method ofselection of specific dice located in specific areas of the wafer underinspection based upon previous experience of various equipment in themanufacturing process tending to cause certain types of surface defectsin die or dice in certain areas of the wafers or a random selectionmethod of selecting dice randomly located throughout the wafer basedupon statistical sampling techniques which are well known in theindustry.

[0026] At this juncture in the present invention, it is clear that priorto the visual inspection of the dice of the wafer, (1) the types ofsurface defects to be determined by the visual inspection, (2) thelocation of the dice of the wafer to be visually inspected for surfacedefects thereon, and (3) the various size ranges of the types of surfacedefects to be determined from the visual inspection have beenpreselected prior to the visual inspection process of the dice of thewafer. Furthermore, it is preferred that each of these criteria is basedupon historical information concerning the process of manufacture of theintegrated circuit semiconductor device and any relationship presentbetween the preselected criteria and subsequent failures of dice from awafer during further processing, testing, and packaging of the dice.Such relationships may be determined by well known statisticalanalytical methods and data collected therefore used in themanufacturing of IC's.

[0027] Continuing, at the next step of the present invention set forthas step 18 of drawing FIGS. 5A and 5B, the preselected locations of diceon the wafer are visually inspected using any well known, commerciallyavailable scanning electron microscope or suitable optical microscopewith tabulations of the resulting types of defects, frequency ofdefects, and sizes of defects being made through suitable means, such asby using a digital computer for such purposes. Also, preferably, aphotograph may be made of each predetermined surface defect located onthe dice of the wafer for comparison purposes with other defects of thesame type classification and a record made of each surface defect andthe location of the die containing such a defect on the wafer.

[0028] As shown in step 20 of the present invention, the surface defectsof the preselected dice are classified, such being determined by theindividual conducting the visual inspection as to the type of defect,the relative defect size, and the range of defect size into which suchsurface defect is to be classified as identified by the individual fromthe visual inspection of predetermined dice of the wafer.

[0029] After the visual inspection of the dice of the wafer, referringto step 22 of the present invention, the results of the visualinspection process are summarized. Typically, the results of the visualinspection are summarized in a tabular format according to defect type,description of the defect type, total for each defect type, and sizerange for such surface defect, and are also summarized in a wafer mapillustrating such information in a graphical display of the dice of thewafer and defects discovered during the visual inspection of the dice ofthe wafer. An example of the tabular display 100 of surface defectinformation is illustrated in drawing FIG. 6, while the graphical screendisplay 200 of the dice of the wafer having surface deflects thereon isillustrated in drawing FIG. 7. While generated by summarizing thesurface defect data using a digital computer for such purposes, it ispreferred that the screen display 200 from the computer be printed outwith subsequent information added by an individual as illustrated bymarks 202 thereon for a record of the visual inspection results of thedice of the wafer.

[0030] At this time, referring to step 24 of the present invention, adetermination is made as to whether the wafer is to proceed for furtherprocessing, testing, singulation of the dice, and/or packaging of thedice. In the first instance, a determination is made based upon thenumber of visual surface defects, types of visual surface defects of thedice, size of visual surface defects of the dice, the location of thevisual surface defects of the dice with respect to the wafer and otherdice of the wafer, etc. Such a determination is based upon informationof previous wafers having visual surface defects of such determined sizein such dice and the well known statistical analysis of such informationfrom a reliability life history of such dice through well knownstatistical analysis techniques in the industry. Alternately, adetermination may be made with respect to individual dice of the waferas to subsequent processing by individually identifying each die throughthe use of electrically retrievable ID codes, such as so-called“fuse-ID's”, programmed into individual IC's to identify the IC's. Theprogramming of a fuse ID typically involves selectively blowing anarrangement of fuses and anti-fuses in an IC so that when the fuses oranti-fuses are accessed, they output a selected ID code for each dieunique to that die which may be readily determined during any subsequentprocessing through well known techniques hereinbefore set forth in thepreviously identified prior art patents which are incorporated herein byreference. In that manner, once the dice have been singulated from thewafer, the “fuse-ID” of each die may be determined and the desiredsubsequent processing, testing, and packaging determined, if any, withrespect to individual dice believed to have reliability or functionalitydefects from the identification of visual surface defects while the diceare in the wafer stage prior to any testing thereof based upon knownhistorical statistical information from such dice.

[0031] From the foregoing it can be easily recognized that through theuse of only the screen display 200 of the wafer and the tabular display100, the individual reviewing the wafer has permanent record of theinformation relating to the population of the visual defects of the diceof the wafer, the size of the defects, the types of visual defects, and,if desired, a pictorial record of the defect illustrating the same andhow such defect relates to defects classified the same on the tabulardisplay 100 and wafer map 200. It should be clearly understood that thetabular display 100 not only provides a summary of the defect types,general defect description, and number of defects, as set forth in table102, but also provides a histogram of such defect information, as setforth in table 104, which sets forth the identification of the die onthe wafer (for instance, ID 329), the class of the defect (for instance,CL 3), and such information summarized in a tabular format, in the sizerange of the defect (for instance, 0.0-0.5 microns, 0.5-1 microns, 1-2microns, 2-4 microns, etc.). In this manner, in a histogram format, suchdefect information is available and summarized for a wafer which hasbeen inspected for defects. Also, the defect information containedwithin tables 102 and 104 has been inter-related or combined for waferdefect evaluation purposes. At such time, the further testing,processing, and packaging of the wafer and dice thereon may bedetermined either individually with respect to the wafer which has beeninspected or collectively with respect to other wafers in the sameproduction lot as the wafer which has been visually inspected.Alternately, the same may be determined regarding individual dice whichhave been discreetly identified through the use of a “fuse-ID” forfurther processing, testing, packaging and/or being discarded.

[0032] In this manner, prior to any subsequent testing, processing orpackaging of any dice, a determination of the quality of the manufactureof the dice in the wafer may be made, thereby avoiding any unnecessaryexpense in manufacturing an IC from the wafer. This avoids unnecessarysubsequent testing of dice as well as the packaging thereof which areknown through statistical analysis to be likely defective. Also, thevarious processing apparatus and methods of process forming the dice onthe wafer may be modified for other wafers in the manufacturing processto help eliminate defects thereon.

[0033] From the foregoing it can be seen to one of ordinary skill in theart that changes, additions, deletions, and modifications may be made tothe present invention which are intended to fall within the scope of theclaimed invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for evaluating a wafer of a plurality ofwafers for defects in a plurality of manufacturing processes, each waferof the plurality of wafers having integrated circuit semiconductor dicethereon, each integrated circuit semiconductor die of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice having at least one circuit, said methodcomprising: determining from historical information concerning at leastone process of manufacture of integrated circuit semiconductor dice onwafers at least one relationship between at least one type of surfacedefect on at least two dice of the integrated circuit semiconductor diceon the wafers, said at least one type of surface defect visible to auser visually inspecting the integrated circuit semiconductor dice onthe wafers for at least one surface defect thereon and determining atleast one subsequent failure of at least two dice having a surfacedefect thereon of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on thewafers; visually inspecting at least two dice of integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on a wafer to determine surface defects thereon by auser viewing said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer, said surface defects including atleast one defect of defects from bond pad formation problems and defectsfrom incomplete formation of said at least one circuit of each of saidat least two dice of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on saidwafer, said visually inspecting said at least two dice of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer including a userusing one of a scanning electron microscope and an optical microscope;selecting types of surface defects present on said at least two dice ofsaid integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer from the visualinspection of said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer by the user viewing said at least twodice of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer;selecting a range of sizes of said surface defects from the visualinspection of said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer by the user; selecting a number of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice for visual inspection on saidwafer by the user selecting at least one other die of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer for the visual inspectionthereof for surface defects thereon; summarizing the number, types, andrange of sizes of the surface defects of said at least two dice and saidat least one other die of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice onsaid wafer from a visual inspection of at least three dice of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer by the user;comparing said number, types and ranges of sizes of the surface defectsof said at least two dice and said at least one other die of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer to the historicalinformation concerning the at least one process of manufacture ofintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on wafers; and determining if saidwafer is acceptable to proceed in said manufacturing process based uponthe visual inspection of the at least three dice of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer by the user and based upon thehistorical information concerning the at least one process ofmanufacture of integrated circuit semiconductor dice on wafers and theat least one relationship between the at least one type of surfacedefect on the at least two dice of the integrated circuit semiconductordice on the wafers visible to the user visually inspecting theintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers and the at least onesubsequent failure of the at least two dice having the surface defectthereon of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers.
 2. Amethod for processing integrated circuit semiconductor dice on a waferin a manufacturing process for said integrated circuit semiconductordice, each integrated circuit semiconductor die of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice having at least one circuit, said methodcomprising: determining from historical information concerning a processof manufacture of integrated circuit semiconductor dice on wafers atleast one relationship between at least one type of surface defect on atleast two dice of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on thewafers, the at least one type of surface defect visible to a uservisually inspecting the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on thewafers for at least one surface defect thereon and determining at leastone subsequent failure of at least one die having a surface defectthereon of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers;visually inspecting said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on saidwafer to determine surface defects thereon by the user visuallyinspecting at least two dice of said integrated circuit semiconductordice on said wafer, said surface defects including at least one defectof defects from bond pad formation problems and defects from incompleteformation of said at least one circuit of each of at least two dice ofsaid integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer, said visuallyinspecting said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer including a user using one of ascanning electron microscope and an optical microscope; classifyingvisual surface defects on said integrated circuit semiconductor dice ofsaid wafer as to type and range of size of surface defect by the userfrom a manual visual inspection of said at least two dice of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer by the user;determining a number of said surface defects on said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer; selecting a range of sizes of saidsurface defects from the visual inspection of said at least two dice ofsaid integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer by the user;selecting a number of said integrated circuit dice for visual inspectionon said wafer by the user selecting at least one other die of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer for the visualinspection thereof for surface defects thereon; summarizing the number,types, and range of sizes of the surface defects on said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer by the user from the visualinspection of said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer by the user; comparing said number,types and ranges of sizes of the surface defects of said at least twodice and said at least one other die of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer to the historical informationconcerning the process of manufacture of integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on wafers; determining if said wafer is acceptable toproceed in said manufacturing process from a visual inspection of atleast three dice of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on saidwafer by the user and based upon the historical information concerningthe process of manufacture of integrated circuit semiconductor dice onwafers and the at least one relationship between the at least one typeof surface defect on the at least two dice of the integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on the wafers visible to the user visually inspectingthe integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers and the at leastone subsequent failure of the at least one die having the surface defectthereon of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers; andphotographing the surface defects on said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice of said wafer from the visual inspection of the atleast two dice of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on saidwafer by the user.
 3. The method of claim 2, further including:classifying visual surface defects of said at least two dice of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice of said wafer as to size of thevisual surface defect.
 4. The method of claim 3, further including:classifying said visual surface defects of said at least two dice ofsaid integrated circuit semiconductor dice of said wafer as to a sizerange of the visual surface defect.
 5. The method of claim 4, furtherincluding: summarizing the number, types, and range of sizes of thevisual surface defects of said at least two dice of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer in a tabular manner.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, further including: summarizing the number, types, andrange of sizes of the visual surface defects of said at least two diceof said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer in a displayof said integrated circuit semiconductor dice of said wafer.
 7. Themethod of claim 2, further including: determining if said wafer isacceptable to proceed in said manufacturing process as a wafer beingprocessed with other wafers having dice thereon as a group of wafers insaid manufacturing process.
 8. The method of claim 2, further including:determining if an individual die of said at least two dice of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice of said wafer is acceptable toproceed in said manufacturing process.
 9. A method for processingintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on a wafer in a manufacturingprocess for said integrated circuit semiconductor dice, each integratedcircuit semiconductor die of said integrated circuit semiconductor dicehaving at least one circuit, said method comprising: determining fromhistorical information concerning a process of manufacture of integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on wafers at least one relationship betweenat least one type of surface defect on at least two dice of theintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers, the at least onetype of surface defect visible to a user visually inspecting theintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers for at least onesurface defect thereon and determining at least one subsequent failureof at least two dice having a surface defect thereon of the integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on the wafers; selecting types of surfacedefects to be determined from the visual inspection of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer by the user visually inspectingat least two dice of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on saidwafer, said surface defects including at least one defect of defectsfrom bond pad formation problems and defects from incomplete formationof said at least one circuit of each of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice; selecting a range of sizes of said surface defectsto be determined from the visual inspection of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer by the user from the visual inspectionof said at least two dice of said integrated circuit semiconductor diceon said wafer; selecting a number of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice for visual inspection on said wafer by the user fromthe visual inspection of said at least two dice of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer; visually inspecting at leastone other integrated circuit semiconductor die of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer to determine surface defectsthereon by the user, said visually inspecting said at least two dice ofsaid integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer including auser using one of a scanning electron microscope and an opticalmicroscope; summarizing the number, types, and range of sizes of thesurface defects of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on saidwafer by the user from a visual inspection of at least three dice ofsaid integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer; comparing saidnumber, types and range of sizes of the surface defects of said at leasttwo dice and said at least one other die of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer to the historical informationconcerning the process of manufacture of integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on wafers; and determining if said wafer isacceptable to proceed in said manufacturing process from the visualinspection of said at least three dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer and based upon the historicalinformation concerning the process of manufacture of integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on wafers and the at least one relationship betweenthe at least one type of surface defect on the at least two dice of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers visible to the uservisually inspecting the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on thewafers and the at least one subsequent failure of the at least two dicehaving the surface defect thereon of the integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on the wafers.
 10. The processing of wafers having atleast one integrated circuit semiconductor die thereon in amanufacturing process for said wafers, said at least one integratedcircuit semiconductor die having at least one circuit, said processingcomprising: determining from historical information concerning a processof manufacture of integrated circuit semiconductor dice on wafers atleast one relationship between at least one type of surface defect on atleast two dice of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on thewafers, the at least one type of surface defect visible to a uservisually inspecting the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on thewafers for at least one surface defect thereon and determining at leastone subsequent failure of at least two dice having a surface defectthereon of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers;selecting types of surface defects to be determined from a visualinspection of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said waferby said user visually inspecting at least two dice of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer, said types of surface defectsincluding at least one surface defect of surface defects from bond padformation problems and surface defects from incomplete formation of saidat least one circuit of said each integrated circuit semiconductor dieof said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer; selecting arange of sizes of said surface defects to be determined from the visualinspection of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said waferby said user from the visual inspection of said at least two dice ofsaid integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer; selecting anumber of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice for visualinspection on said wafer by said user from the visual inspection of saidat least two dice of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on saidwafer; visually inspecting said integrated circuit semiconductor dice onsaid wafer to determine surface defects thereon by said user visuallyinspecting said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer, wherein visual inspection of said atleast two dice of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on saidwafer using an apparatus for viewing said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice; summarizing the number, types, and range of sizes ofthe surface defects of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice onsaid wafer by said user from the visual inspection of said at least twodice of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer;comparing said number, types and range of sizes of the surface defectsof said at least two dice and at least one other die of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer to the historical informationconcerning the process of manufacture of integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on wafers; and determining if said wafer isacceptable to proceed in said manufacturing process based upon saidvisual inspection by said user of said at least two dice on said waferand based upon the historical information concerning the process ofmanufacture of integrated circuit semiconductor dice on wafers and theat least one relationship between the at least one type of surfacedefect on the at least two dice of the integrated circuit semiconductordice on the wafers visible to the user visually inspecting theintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers and the at least onesubsequent failure of the at least two dice having the surface defectthereon of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers. 11.A method of processing integrated circuit semiconductor dice on a waferin a manufacturing process for said integrated circuit semiconductordice by a user, each integrated circuit semiconductor die of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice having at least one circuit, saidmethod comprising: determining from information concerning a process ofmanufacture of integrated circuit semiconductor dice on wafersrelationships between at least two types of surface defects on at leasttwo dice of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers, theat least two types of surface defects visible to a user visuallyinspecting the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers forthe at least two types of surface defects thereon and determining atleast one subsequent failure of at least one die having a surface defectthereon of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers;selecting types of surface defects to be determined from a visualinspection of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said waferby said user visually inspecting at least two dice of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer, said surface defects includingat least one surface defect of surface defects from bond pad formationproblems and surface defects from incomplete formation of said at leastone circuit of said each integrated circuit semiconductor die of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer, said visuallyinspection of said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer including a user using one of ascanning electron microscope and an optical microscope; selecting a sizeof said surface defects to be determined from the visual inspection ofsaid integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer by said uservisually inspecting said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer; selecting a number of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice for visual inspection on said wafer by saiduser based on the visual inspection of said at least two dice of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer; visually inspectingat least one other die of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice onsaid wafer to determine surface defects thereon by said user;summarizing the number, types, and size of the surface defects of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer by said user fromthe visual inspection of at least three dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer; comparing said number, types and sizeof the surface defects of said at least two dice and said at least oneother die of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer tothe historical information concerning the process of manufacture ofintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on wafers; determining if saidwafer is acceptable to proceed in said manufacturing process from thevisual inspection of said at least three dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer and based upon the historicalinformation concerning the process of manufacture of integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on wafers and the relationships between the at leasttwo types of surface defects on said at least two dice of the integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on the wafers visible to said user visuallyinspecting the integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers andsaid at least one subsequent failure of the at least one die having thesurface defect thereon of the integrated circuit semiconductor dice onthe wafers; and photographing the surface defects on said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice of said wafer from the visual inspection bysaid user of said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer.
 12. The method of claim 11, furtherincluding: classifying visual surface defects of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice of said wafer as to type of surface defect.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, further including: classifying said visual surfacedefects of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice of said wafer asto size of the surface defect.
 14. The method of claim 13, furtherincluding: classifying said visual surface defects of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice of said wafer as to a size range of thesurface defect.
 15. The method of claim 14, further including:summarizing the number, types, and range of sizes of the surface defectsof said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer in a tabularmanner.
 16. The method of claim 15, further including: summarizing thenumber, types, and range of sizes of the surface defects of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer in a display of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice of said wafer.
 17. The method ofclaim 11, further including: determining if said wafer is acceptable toproceed in said manufacturing process as a wafer being processed withother wafers having integrated circuit semiconductor dice thereon as agroup of wafers in said manufacturing process.
 18. The method of claim11, further including: determining if an individual die of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice of said wafer is acceptable toproceed in said manufacturing process.
 19. The processing of integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on a wafer in a manufacturing process forsaid integrated circuit semiconductor dice by a user, each integratedcircuit semiconductor die of said integrated circuit semiconductor dicehaving at least one circuit, said processing comprising: determiningfrom historical information concerning a process of manufacture ofintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on wafers at least onerelationship between at least one type of surface defect on at least twointegrated circuit semiconductor dice of the integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on the wafers, the at least one type of surfacedefect visible to a user visually inspecting the integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on the wafers for at least one surface defect thereonand determining at least one subsequent failure of at least oneintegrated circuit semiconductor die having a surface defect thereon ofthe integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers, the visualinspection of said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer by a user including a user operatingone of a scanning electron microscope and an optical microscope;visually inspecting at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer to determine surface defects thereon bysaid user, said surface defects including at least one surface defect ofsurface defects from bond pad formation problems and surface defectsfrom incomplete formation of said at least one circuit of said eachintegrated circuit semiconductor die of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer, the surface defects having a type andsize; summarizing the surface defects on said dice on said wafer by saiduser from the said visual inspection of said at least two dice of saiddice on said wafer; comparing number, types and ranges of sizes of thesurface defects of at least one integrated circuit semiconductor die andat least one other integrated circuit semiconductor die of saidintegrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer to the historicalinformation concerning the process of manufacture of integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on wafers; and determining if said wafer isacceptable to proceed in said manufacturing process from the visualinspection of said at least two dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer and based upon the historicalinformation concerning the process of manufacture of integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on wafers and the at least one relationship betweensaid at least one type of surface defect on said at least two dice ofthe integrated circuit semiconductor dice on the wafers visible to saiduser visually inspecting the integrated circuit semiconductor dice onthe wafers and said at least one subsequent failure of the at least twodice having the surface defect thereon of the integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on the wafers.
 20. The method of claim 19, furthercomprising: selecting types of said surface defects to be determinedfrom the visual inspection of said integrated circuit semiconductor diceon said wafer by said user from the visual inspection of at least threeintegrated circuit semiconductor dice of said integrated circuitsemiconductor dice on said wafer; selecting sizes of said surfacedefects to be determined from the visual inspection of said integratedcircuit semiconductor dice on said wafer by said user from the visualinspection of said at least three integrated circuit semiconductor diceof said integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer; andselecting at least three of said integrated circuit semiconductor dicefor visual inspection on said wafer by a user from the visual inspectionof at least three die of said integrated circuit semiconductor dice onsaid wafer.
 21. The method of claim 19, wherein the visually inspectingsaid integrated circuit semiconductor dice on said wafer includes usinga scanning electron microscope or optical microscope by said user.